Credit is a Scam
Friday, May 1, 2009 12:01I have always had a strange relationship with money. My mom was always the saver, and my dad always seems to be in debt. I tried my best to get though college with as little debt as possible but it never happens. Most college graduates enter the job market with over 5,000 in credit card debt. I personally had about 8k in credit card debt last year when I graduated and had never missed a payment.
That same year I worked full time and started with affiliate marketing. I did rather well for my self and I paid off all of my credit cards, and half of my student loans. I had just had enough with all the bullshit and wanted to be free of credit cards all together. After I paid off each card I called and canceled them. I did this to 8 credit cards that were my life line for books and tuition in college. I kept 2 $0 balance cards as ‘emergency’ one was at my old bank, the other my American Express.
So since I made myself debt free my credit score should have increased like crazy right? Wrong.
I recently pulled my credit report looking to buy a new home and saw that my score was 666. Which is considered ‘good’ but I know its pretty shitty. So lets play what is fucking me over!
You recently missed a payment.
Apparently I missed a payment on a credit card I don’t own last month. I have no clue wtf this is and I have disputed it but that will take 60 days and they may or may not believe you.
You’ve recently been looking for credit.
In the past year 5 companies have inquired about my credit. So I must be begging for credit cards and not getting them right? Lets see. Comcast, Scottrade, Wells Fargo, American Express, and Bally Total Fitness have checked my credit in the last year. So getting cable, setting up a IRA, opening a bank account, and going to the gym can all have a negative impact effect your credit. Great.
You have accounts showing missed payments or derogatory descriptions.
Once again they point out I have missed payments on cards I do not own. In 60 days ill find out if they believe me or not.
You recently opened a new credit account.
Seems 1 Year and 2 Months ago I opened a card, looks like it had a $0 balance and was canceled 5 months after I opened it. I am not sure why this is a negative but the thing says only cards 2yrs old are no longer negative. Nothing I can do there.
So despite making more money than I have ever made in my life and almost no debt but some 4% student loans. I am still being fucked over by the system. With the current economy I don’t qualify for a normal mortgage, car loan, or special lease offers. I could buy a new car in cash but I can’t get a simple loan. I have always felt that ‘credit’ was a total scam. Its something that you really don’t have control over even though they want you to think you are. Recent events in the news have brought to light what I have know for years. Credit and Credit cards are a total scam, avoid them at all costs if you can. /* end rant */
theNOTO says:
May 1st, 2009 at 12:34 pm
Closing accounts, especially if they were older accounts or you had large credit limits, can have a negative effect on your credit score. Once those recent inquiries start to fall off, your score will go up.
BeerNuts says:
May 1st, 2009 at 12:57 pm
Yeah I hear that a lot, but nowhere on my credit report dose it state my recently closed accounts as a negative. Its all smoke and mirrors as to what really effects your credit score. I have a feeling they have been working with Google.
spyderman4g63 says:
May 1st, 2009 at 2:40 pm
Yea, it’s all bullshit. If you are financially stable, but don’t use the cards you get fucked. I could have 60K in credit card debt and as long as a keep making payments I could end up with a higher score than you. Makes no sense at all. (For the record I did the same thing you did my first year with AM. Paid off everything I could.)
cclind says:
May 4th, 2009 at 12:45 pm
NOTO is right closing CC is bad, especially the older ones. On the flip side if you have 6 CC’s that have a zero balance that is also looked at as a risk, too much open credit is a liability as well. As for the 666 credit score, thats actually not too bad. Hell my wife and I bought a house last August with scores of 625 and 614.
Credit is a Scam | marketFly says:
June 14th, 2009 at 4:05 pm
[...] BeerNuts – Original Post Posted by admin on Jun 14th, 2009 and filed under beermonies.com. You can follow any responses [...]
DMD says:
November 12th, 2009 at 6:01 pm
It is a scam.
What will really surprise you, is that if you had 1 or 2 credit cards that you owed 20% of your available balance on, making payments on time for the past 6 months, you’d have a much higher score. They want to see you ‘handling’ your credit well.
At the end of the day, cash is so much better, but don’t go buy a new car for cash or you’ll end up being audited.